Sir Peter Mason, Chief Executive
AMEC Group Limited
Timothy's Bridge Road
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 9NJ
United Kingdom

RE: Chalillo dam project in Belize

Dear Mr. Mason,

I am deeply disturbed regarding your company's continued involvement in the environmentally destructive Chalillo dam project in Belize. I urge you to make public all of AMEC's contracts and revenues received in relation to this project, as well as the proposed dam design and costs, and to immediately cease involvement in this project.

The Macal River sweeps through Belize's Chiquibul rainforest, nourishing one of Central America's most biologically diverse habitats. This tropical floodplain teems with threatened wildlife including Morelet's crocodiles, tapirs, jaguars, and the last 200 birds remaining in a local subspecies of scarlet macaw. The Chalillo dam would flood 22 miles of the valley and would destroy more than 2,000 acres of crucial habitat while keeping energy bills outrageously high for Belizeans.

The environmental assessment of the proposed project, conducted by your Montreal-based subsidiary, downplayed warnings by the Natural History Museum of London that the project would wreak havoc on a unique rainforest ecosystem. Specifically, your company's own consultants stated that the dam would in fact damage the region's biodiversity, threaten an international wildlife corridor, and possibly wipe out Belize's scarlet macaw. The environmental assessment also included incorrect and inadequate studies of the geological foundation for the dam.

AMEC claimed it would NOT seek contracts to design or build the dam, but now the Chinese company contracted to build the dam states that it negotiated and signed their contract as a subcontractor of AMEC. Your company's continued involvement in this destructive project only raises further doubts as to its ability to conduct an impartial and trustworthy environmental assessment. To clarify this situation, I again ask you to fully disclose all company documents related to the dam, and to immediately withdraw from further involvement in the project.

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